Radio frequency identification (RFID) systems are used in a variety of different applications. As one example, RFID systems are commonly used to track and monitor shipping containers or other objects. RFID tags are attached to the containers or other objects, and can exchange wireless communications with stationary interrogators. In order to provide end users with compatibility among components obtained from different manufacturers, an international industry standard for RFID communications has been developed and promulgated by the International Organization for standardization (ISO) in Geneva, Switzerland. This standard is commonly known as the art as the ISO 18000-7 standard.
Although the ISO 18000-7 standard been very beneficial, it offers little in the way of security for information. For example, the standard does not allow wireless messages to be encrypted, nor does it have any built-in extension mechanism that would permit the definition of proprietary messages within the protocol, such as proprietary messages with security provisions. Consequently, information transmitted in wireless messages under the ISO 18000-7 standard is fully visible to any entity that elects to receive the wireless messages. A third party may be able to emulate or interfere with ISO 18000-7 messages in various different ways. Consequently, while the ISO 18000-7 standard has been adequate and beneficial for its intended purposes, it has not been entirely satisfactory in all respects.